Finished my louver press this weekend, well almost. 42' of 3/16" wall 2"X4" square tubing, weighing approximately 320 lbs. The louvers are 2 1/2" wide, old stlye, round top louvers. I will be adding a louvered panel to the top portion of the press (triangle) later in the week to cover the frame work.....
could you post the process of how you made this and what parts were used to build it ? i'm sure theres several of us that would be interested in building a similar setup . looks like a nice setup
I purchased the "louver die" from Dave Williams (Gold Anodized brackets and die). Dave will send you a schmetic for the build, however; the throat is only 30" deep. I ended up with a 42" throat for hoods, etc. The major concern, your throat or "C" notch can never be strong enough as you cannot overbuild the throat. Ideally, the back of the press should be secured to a wall. All of the cross members have been placed in the frame work to prevent deflection. With a 42" throat, pressing threw 18 ga. steel, there is a vast amount of stress on the upright section loacted at the back of the throat. There is approximately 1/16" of movement within the "C" notch while punching a louver.
How tall is the throat? And what is the orientation of the die? Male side on top or bottom? I'm wondering about a piece like the hood on a Tri-5 Chevy, that has a very large and abrupt curved section. I was in a shop this summer that had a louver press, and he had a pair of adjustable wooden rests...sort of like a scissor lift, that would support large panels, along the sides of the press. -Brad
I've alway wanted to build one of those, but just never had the space. Very nice and thanks for posting!
Throat is 11 1/2" tall with the male die on top, however; if need be, the male die could be placed on the bottom with the reciever on the top (I have not attempted this as of yet as I just finised the press). As for your tri-five hood, the rear/back of the hood would be stamped first, stamping louvers towards the front..... Once you have the first louver pressed, the next louver is centered off of the first by resting the actual louver against the reciever die. "Out-riggers" would be required for large pieces....
Supporting the weight of a big hood while you punch a hundred louvers or so is a back breaker. My press has a counterweighted support that allows full movement but takes away the weight. Not my design but something I stumbled across.
How much effort is required to punch a louver? Would it be something a hydraulic cylinder would be good for? Im thinking of putting the die in a gigantic press i have....
Here's our machine using a Mittler setup with hydraulics. HD casters allow us to move it around the shop and move it out of the way when not being used
Hydraulics would be nice, however; I used a short piece (12") of thin wall aluminum pipe which did not split until 50 (+) louvers. During this time, I was setting up the die and attempting to find the correct stroke on the die while puching in 18 ga. sheet.... Unless you are a high production shop, I wouldn't go the expense of hydraulics...
my buddy built one completely from pieces he got out of the local scrap yard. all the hydraulics, controls and everything. it is big and beafy and even with the expense of having his own dies heat treated he only had a few hundred bucks into it.
that's awesome. I was thinking of picking up a set of dies, and trying to make a fixture to put in my shop press. But maybe I will just make a nice c frame like this. I have a bunch of 2x3 left over from my frame build.
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